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Jack Treader
Jack Treader is the main character and one of the two leading protagonists of the series. He is an engineer who travels the freelands in his reinforced monster truck in search of parts to further update his A.I. companion. Biography Jack Treader’s real name is Jack Van Buren Junior, named after his father Jack Van Buren Senior. Jack was born in Old Michigan in a faction-less clan, which had been taken down by a hostile Trasher gang. Jack was then put under the care of Wheeler Treader and adopted the man's last name. While he was an apprentice for the Strix, Jack had hijacked an artificial intelligence program from a lab that was over-run by a Goshawk raid. When the Goshawks invaded Strix territory in search for their missing program, Jack was forced to flee and had been avoiding the Goshawks for nearly 10 years. He is known canonically to be the very last of the Strix in existence. Jack is currently 29 years old and resides in his mobile vehicle infamously called The Sun Devil. He works as a freelancing engineer, scavenging for parts and rare objects to sell or to upgrade his equipment. Appearance Jack is a tall and slightly muscular young man. He has a dimly tanned complexion and layered brown hair that is always untidy. His eyes are bright blue. His entire left arm is made of cyber-synthetic parts and is connected from his neck down to his shoulder blade. He speaks with a slight southern accent. Personality Jack is very passionate about his progress with technology. He took classes while he was a student of the Strix, but realized that he learns better on the job. Jack is easily bored listening to lectures and prefers to learn about things he deems to be most useful in a more intimate environment. Jack has a tendency to latch himself emotionally onto anything he views as special and unique. He is possessive and emotionally reliant on his A.I. SUNY, believing the program to be his own personal assistant as well as his “mechanical other”. It is shown that Jack genuinely admires and deeply cares about SUNY by how he treats her almost human. This emotional dependence also shows in the way he treats his bodyguard, Diane Roche, seeking her attention and involvement in his own ventures. He gets especially jealous and anxious when she is romantically involved with men. Jacks social skills and moral standards can be muddled by his jaded views of humanity and his detachment from other people. He shows disinterest of strangers, even people in need of his assistance due to many instances of betrayal. He is willing to be extremely brutal when people betray him or put those close to him in danger. He is known for the murders of several meat market investors because they tried to . This does not make him completely heartless, however, as he has been shown to be shocked, startled or annoyed by loss of life that he deems unnecessary, foolish or unreasonable. Jacks distrust towards people has caused him to be reserved about most of his affairs and to only stay in contact with a select few individuals. While Jack has shown to have a strong bond with his crew as time goes on, he still is cautious and aloof whenever he is referring to the whole as “family” in any way. Jack does not do well with changes in routine and tries to stick to a certain structure - he shows frustration with change when Diane’s impulsiveness often makes Jacks plans go awry. However, he later becomes adapted to improvisation with Diane’s influence. He remains very talented with strategic procedure and is able to observe outside his own human limitations thanks to his technological enhancements. Jack is usually portrayed as having a heavy dislike for authority and avoids working with organizations. He has trouble taking orders from others, is very anti-totalitarian, and openly harasses public figures who hide their true nature from the world. He refuses to join the Dragonflies because he claims that he doesn't respect them for their shady acts and doesn't like "being told where to go and what to do". Despite his general disregard for authority, Jack does hold by the rules of the freelands as often as he can and shows good etiquette when it comes to negotiations. He regularly goes across the Freelands to harvest resources and will often willingly to break rules to get them Jack is shown to harbor deep emotional pain and sorrow, especially when it comes to his romantic relationships. Jack’s romantic life consists only of several one night stands and an on-off again relationship with his ex-girlfriend Beverly Hill. He is shown to be rather cynical when it comes to love, but not exempt from it. When he develops feelings for Diane, he turns very affectionate and awkward, declaring that he isn't used to "feeling the butterflies over anybody". Criminal Record Throughout his numerous adventures, Jack has been shown to be ready and willing to disregard rules, laws and social norms if it is necessary to complete a task or escape a dangerous situation. * Assault: Jack has been in numerous fights due to conflicts, often with legal enforcers. * Breaking and Entering (Burglary): Jack has been warned at least three times for attempted theft on neutral territory and charged once for explicit theft of a top secret project. * Cable Piracy: Jack has hacked into many private radio and satellite channels for extensive purposes. He has yet to be charged with these acts. * Illegal Arms Dealing: Jack is known among a select few to sell and buy from dealer that have illegally modified weapons and gadgets. He has yet to be charged with these acts. * Resisting Arrest: Jack has escaped arrest attempts and raids in several faction territories. * Smuggling: Jack has been accused of smuggling illegal substances to a Lacewing clan, but had been released of that charge when proven innocent. * Vandalism/Arson: Jack was charged of vandalism/arson when he had caused the Freak Show to lose half of their exhibits and ruined their setup. * Treason/Rebellion: Jack was charged of treason when he had refused to work with the Dragonflies to insertlink. However, the Dragonflies are holding that charge as null over Jack's head in hope that Jack will crack under pressure and do their bidding in due time. Relationships JACK VAN BUREN SR. Not much is mentioned about Jack's relationship with his father, only that he had talents that earned him respect among many clans from various factions. He is currently missing. MARCELLENE VAN BUREN NE' HOLLISTER Jack has always shown great fondness for his mother, recalling times where she would comfort him with song. She is currently missing. CLARISSA VAN BUREN (VIVIAN GARRICK) Jack only remembers his sister Clarissa to have been like a miniature-version of himself. He recalls moments of when they had played together and tag had been their favorite game. Unbeknownst to Jack, Clarissa is alive and running under Goshawk command under the alias of Vivian Garrick. Jack has only known Garrick to be deadly and dangerous through witnessed encounters by Diane and Randy. EMERY COLE Emery was Jack's first helpmate, having met her when the two of them had been training in the same Strix clan under Wheeler. Emery always gave Jack that boost of confidence he needed to meet Wheelers' demands. The sense of competition blossomed into a young and naive romance. Jack has said to have had a special connection with Emery, saying that he was the first person who "showed him how vulnerable love makes you". Jack was devastated to learn that Emery had been killed defending her own family in the insertlink. Losing Emery had caused Jack to grow cynical about falling in love again. WILLIAM TREADER (WHEELER) Wheeler was a Strix officer who had taken in Jack as his own after Jack's family had disappeared. He is described as a "stern" and "weathered" old man who worked Jack hard on vehicle maintenance and gave sound advice about life. Wheeler taught Jack everything he could about Strix engineering, claiming that the boy had amazing potential. Wheeler died during insertlink in an explosion, using his own death as a delay in the invasion so Jack could escape and prevent Strix secrets from falling into the hands of the Goshawks faction. SNY (SUNNY) Jack's relationship with his artificial intelligent program named Sunny exceeds beyond the norm. While he was still a student for the Strix, he had stolen the artificial intelligence from a lab that was over-run by a Goshawk raid. Since then he has been keeping her secret and protecting her from discovery should Sunny be forced to return to the Goshawks. Jack genuinely cares for the existence and maintenance of Sunny despite her not being human. He views his relationship with Sunny more deep than marriage itself. This is known from the fact that Jack had sacrificed his own arm to always have a way to be connected to Sunnys hard drive, making the two of them almost inseparable. Sunny is possibly the stabilizing influence in Jacks life that keeps Jack from doing things that could end up causing trouble. DIANE ROCHE (DIAMOND) Initially Jack had saved Diane from dying out in the freelands and admits that he was only motivated to do so because he had mistaken her for a Harpy. He agrees to help bring her back to her family out of motivation of recieving valuable materials when they reach the hidden Bristle Clan. During their time together, Jack grows more interested in talking with Diane, saying that he can "have a conversation with (her) about (his) profession and not be talkin' to a blank wall". Jack was irritated at Diane's lack of experience at first, but he comes to focus on working with her strengths to great results. They often banter due to differing opinions on politics, but they are the most compatible when they are working/fighting together. By the time Jack had brought Diane back to her clan, he viewed her as good company and was genuinely pleased when she asked to travel with him longer. As they traveled in the Sun Devil, the two of them become close friends and develop a partner-in-crime relationship. Sometime between insertlink and insertlink, their friendship does take on an unhealthy undertone. Jack grows emotionally dependent on Dianes and feels her growing independence will cause her leave the crew. He also feels responsible for keeping Diane safe and takes that role of "guardian" to the extreme. This creates conflict where Diane refuses to work with Jack if he kept acting "like (her) father". He goes as far as to stalk her while she is on a date with her (ex)boyfriend Gehl to make sure she was safe. He acknowledges this behavior to be wrong and he works to redirect it despite his bitter feelings about Diane's reaction. His dependency becomes less of an issue when he starts spending more time with the Sterlyng brothers. He tries to explain to Diane on their insertlink that he is afraid that he will lose his first human best friend and is not sure how to deal with that possibility. After the insertlink incident, Jack describes Diane to be “unusually beautiful lately” and “built tough inside and out”. He expresses discomfort being with other women in Diane's presence and realizes his attraction for her when he decides to officially “break up” with Beverly Hill. He confesses about his feelings when he helps the crew break Diane from her addiction to insertlink, and later manages to ask Diane to be his helpmate. After Diane risked her life to bring Sunny and the entire crew back, Jack expresses his feelings for Diane as “more than love” and proposes to her immediately after he is released from Calibers prison. MARK STERLYNG (MRK) During the first few months after insertlink, Jack cared very little for and paid scarce attention to the youngest of the Sterling Brothers, Mark, saying that the man was "bewildering" to him. As time went on, however, the two began to bond and go on their own adventures, and eventually Jack starts to show him how to manage Sunny's A.I. system management. Jack respects Mark's love for numbers and formulas and how hard the man works to earn respect from his peers despite his conditions. Despite not having any experiences with mental disabilities, Jack is very patient when it comes to managing Mark, though he makes a point to ask for assistance when Mark becomes a bit too much to handle. When Mark was captured by Caliber and sold off to BLU, Jack felt personally responsible for failing Mark's dream of insertlink. In the "reincarnation of MRK", Jack was enraged and frightened to learn how different MRK was from how he remembered his friend. TRIVIA * Jack initially gave Diane the names "D" and "Diamond" to keep her identity secret